Founded in 1981, Foxtons started life as a two-person agency in Notting Hill. Over the years we are proud to have become London's leading estate agent.


Estate agency Foxtons Group has announced the successful pricing of its IPO of 169.4m shares of one pence each. The price has been set at 230p per share.

Based on the Offer Price, the market capitalisation of the Company will be approximately £649m on admission.

The Offer is expected to raise gross proceeds of approximately £390m, comprising a primary component of £55m and secondary sales of £335m. Secondary sales will consist of a partial sell-down by Adnams BBPM Holdings Limited (an entity controlled indirectly by funds advised by BC Partners), executive directors of the Company and certain other employees of the Group.

Conditional dealings will commence on the London Stock Exchange at 8.00 a.m. today under the ticker FOXT.

Admission to the premium listing segment of the Official List and to trading on the main market for listed securities of the London Stock Exchange and the commencement of unconditional dealings in the Shares ("Admission") are expected to take place at 8.00 a.m. on 25 September 2013. At Admission the Company will have 282,176,468 Shares in issue.

http://www.foxtons.co.uk/

Sharp-rise-properties-listed-500k-year-number-homes-sale-hits-highest-level-early-2010

Market Buzz

Foxtons a 'sell' for Peel Hunt as it warns estate agents face long-term headwinds

Tue, 02 June 2015



Savills Quote more



Price: 939.50

Chg: -24.50

Chg %: -2.54%

Date: 16:30



FTSE 250 Quote


Price: 18,220.31 Chg: 0.11 Chg %: 0.00% Date: 17:14

Peel Hunt initiated coverage of the UK estate agency sub-sector with a 'sell' rating on Foxtons and 'hold' ratings on Countrywide, LSL and Savills.
The broker said the decisive result in the general election has provided a welcome fillip for the UK estate agents, removing uncertainty over mansion tax, controls on rents and the banning of tenant fees, and noting that comparatives figures from last year are set to ease in the second half of 2015.

"While the near term news is positive and the listed players have diversified into areas with more stable revenue streams, we believe the sector faces longer term headwinds," analysts wrote.

"It is still largely exposed to the highly cyclical nature of housing transactions and the growth of fixed price online estate agents is likely to lead to downward pressure, possibly significant, on industry fees and profits."

The broker sees a good medium-term outlook for growth in transactions and house prices, but believes downward pressure on fees will hold back the recovery in profits.

"The key issue is the pricing structure offered by the online estate agents which have been expanding rapidly and where the difference in fees is material - especially in higher value areas of the SE/London. The big debate for us is how far and how rapidly will fees fall."

On the upside, the latest RICS survey highlighted that estate agent stock levels stand circa 40% below the long run average, with low housing stock levels, particularly in London, providing a decent foundation for further modest price growth, analysts believe.

However, while the sector looks roughly fairly valued, Foxtons shares have bounced 77% in the year to date to now stand on demanding valuation multiples of around 20 times forward earnings, meaning a positive rating was difficult despite its higher margins, debt-free balance sheet and healthy yield.

Proactive investor - Foxtons Group (LON:FOXT), down 5.3%. It was revealed after the market closed yesterday that Cantillon Capital Management had reduced its stake in the estate agent to less than 5%.

Estate agent Foxtons risks a legal bill as high as £42MILLION after charging a landlord £616 to change a light fitting


dailymail,Estate-agent-Foxtons-risks-huge-legal-bill-charging-616-fix-light.

Why Foxtons Group PLC Jumped 28% In May




By Motley Fool | Wed, 10th June 2015 - 11:41

What: Shares in London estate agent, Foxtons (LSE:FOXT), easily outperformed the wider index during May. They delivered a share price gain of 28%, while the FTSE 100 could only manage a rise of 0.3% during the same period.

So What: The main reason for Foxtons' exceptional share price growth in May was the result of the General Election. Prior to the election, Foxtons had reported a slowdown in demand for properties in London, which it blamed on the uncertainty being created by the possibility of another hung parliament. Furthermore, there were concerns surrounding the election of Ed Miliband as Prime Minister, with his mansion tax and apparent anti-business policies also causing investor demand in London property to be relatively subdued.

However, with the Conservative majority victory, investors appear to be of the view that it is 'back to normal' for Foxtons, with sentiment towards the company improving significantly in recent weeks. Of course, this only goes part of the way to correcting the nosedive in Foxtons' share price that has occurred since it listed 2013, with it still being down 10% on its IPO level despite London property enjoying a boom period since then. As a result, it has been something of a mixed performer since listing less than two years ago.

Now What: While Foxtons' share price is beginning to recover to its previous highs, it has largely been driven by improving sentiment. Now, investors need to see proof that Foxtons is able to deliver impressive growth numbers. And, looking ahead, its growth prospects are moderately impressive. For example, in the current year, Foxtons is forecast to increase its bottom line by 6%, followed by growth of 10% next year. Both of these figures compare relatively favourably to the wider market's anticipated growth rate in the mid to high single digits over the next two years.

However, the challenge for investors is that, following the recent share price rise, Foxtons now looks somewhat fully valued. For example, it trades on a price to earnings (P/E) ratio of 19.4 (versus around 15.6 for the wider index) and, even with upbeat growth prospects, this still equates to a relatively unappealing price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio of 1.8.

As such, Foxtons could see its share price come under pressure over the medium term. That's especially likely since the EU referendum debate is likely to cause considerable uncertainty over the next couple of years and could have a similar effect on demand for London property as the General Election did prior to May. Therefore, while Foxtons is a stock that is worth watching, now may not be the right time to add it to your portfolio, with there being a number of stocks with more obvious catalysts to push their share prices to higher highs.

Despite the Motley Fool above and recent negative press. Bounced off 50DMA, MACD needs to get a wriggle on, if it can breach 260p on it's way again.

Citibank note today:
"Head-to-Head Series – In the latest edition of Citi’s Head-To-Head series we take a look at the UK Estate Agent sector. Post the recent general election we suggest it is an interesting time to be examining this market. In our analysis we focus on current UK residential property market trends as well as company specific dynamics. We initiate coverage of Countrywide (TP 700p) and LSL (TP 545p), both on a Buy rating. We initiate coverage of Foxtons (TP 215p) with a Sell.
 Countrywide is our key pick within the sector and wins on the most points examined in the Head-To-Head. This business offers investors the opportunity to invest in a scale operation with strong End Market Dynamics which continues to evolve organically as well as offering market Consolidation Optionality.
 LSL is a close second on many points examined. LSL also continues to benefit from an improving UK residential market and is expected to deliver improving operational metrics whilst trading at what we consider an attractive Valuation.
 Foxtons has the strongest Brand Profile and margin performance of the three stocks examined; however it is largely focused on London where we have concerns regarding End Market Dynamics given affordability issues which may curtail volumes. We also suggest there is limited scope for margin expansion and given management’s organic growth plans there is also no Consolidation Optionality. The stock also trades at a significant premium to peers.
 Foxtons provides residential sales and lettings services operating from a network of 56 offices focused solely on London (54) and Surrey (2). Foxtons commenced trading in 1981 and listed in 2013. The business also offers mortgage advice and other related services through Alexander Hall. The business growth strategy is organic with a target of between 5-10 new branches each year.
 Our target priced is based on an equally weighted average valuation using DCF (215p), EV/EBITDA based SoTP (215p) and PE based SoTP (225p). At current levels the stock is trading on 17.0x Dec 16e P/E, 11.4x EV/EBITDA. Our target price implies CY15 PE of 15.2x and EV/EBITDA of 10.1x offering a -9% ETR.
 We note particular strength regarding the business transactional/nontransactional revenue balance as well as the strength of the brand and competitive positioning. We have worries however regarding the London focussed residential end market exposure, suggest limited scope for margin upside or potential peer consolidation, we also highlight earnings risk from online only disrupters and note the material valuation premium to peers."

Foxtons pre-tax profits fall

StockMarketWire.com

London estate agent Foxtons posts pre-tax profits of £18.1m for the six month to the end of June - down from £23.1m.

Group revenue fell to £71.1m down 2.3% with property sales revenue down 10.9% vs. H1 2014 when the sales market was operating at its peak since 2007. The group saw continuing momentum in lettings with revenue up 5.4% vs. H1 2014.

Chief executive Nic Budden said:"Despite challenging market conditions, Foxtons has delivered a solid result against very tough comparables demonstrating the strength of our business model and our balanced approach to sales and lettings.

"As we predicted earlier in the year, the sales market remained constrained during the months before the General Election. With the election uncertainty now passed we have seen an increase in activity across our branch network. This is encouraging and we enter the second half of the year with stock levels up 12% compared to last year, a £1bn sales pipeline and our recently opened branches continuing to mature in line with expectations. In addition we have seen a noticeable increase in buyer applicants. Our lettings business has maintained the positive momentum seen in the first quarter of 2015.

"Our expansion has continued as planned with five new branches opened since the beginning of the year with our future sites secured out to the end of 2016. The majority of these are focused in the fastest growing areas of Outer London.

"Based on current activity levels continuing, we expect to meet full year market expectations with a stronger property sales performance in the second half of the year from higher transaction volumes."

Upgrade - 9 Sep Goldman Sachs 259.00 Neutral

Company News

Foxtons remains on track to meet full-year expectations

Thu, 22 October 2015



(ShareCast News) - Foxtons remains on track to meet full-year expectations despite fewer transactions in central London and the slow recovery projected for property sales.
The London-focused real estate agency said transactions in central London remained at a low level following recent strong price growth and stamp duty changes.

Furthermore, "any recovery of the property sales market [is expected] to be slow due to low current levels of stock," management said in a statement.

Nevertheless, the company highlighted how it entered the last quarter of the year with a £1bn sales pipeline, "which was well above the same point last year".

An 8.8% jump in third quarter turnover to £43.5m drove a 15.5% rise in operating profits, on an adjusted EBITDA basis, to £16.4m.

Operating margins improved to 37.8% from 35.6% in 2014.

Its new homes business was described as performing "particularly well" while residential lettings achieved "steady growth", with sales up 3.3% in the latter.

Foxtons emphasised that its third quarter figures faced a very strong comparable period. Property transactions were running close to record levels in the same period last year.

"We remain broadly on track to meet full-year expectations."

As of 08:08 shares in Foxtons Group were 3.21% lower at 214.4p.

Is this the end of the London Jack Up Cycle?

london, perhaps more than other cities, is very location-specific with regard to desirability and demand

nevertheless, the london market is currently soft - quiet is probably a better word - though i hear that a good number of people have had their fingers badly burned by buying off-plan in some of the flashier locations along the embankment and similar

for all that, i think i am correct in saying that foxtons do not really operate in the upper echelons, and are perhaps stronger on the letting than the sales side

it's all very 2007ish from where I'm standing.

All the sub prime AIM junk is now pretty much falling on a daily basis...

But more importantly China isn't going to ride to the rescue this time.

Baltic dry index telling it how it is.

Sliding scale stamp duty I think has hit the top end of the housing market.

Personally, I am amazed at the Telephone numbers I see advertised for certain dwellings here in London. There must be a lot of seriously rich folk around to even contemplate putting in an offer.

baltic dry and the london property market don't have much if any connection or correlation

however, i think there remains some disquiet among foreign investors with regard to the implication and application of the new rules re evasion of stamp duty and similar wheezes

stockmarket topped out
housing market topped out
commodities topped out
oil topped out
world trade topped out
Baltic dry topped out.

Big correlation I'd say.

claret - just because you could buy 3 streets of terraced houses in blaenau ffestiniog for the price of a well-appointed 3 bedroom apartment in a desirable area of london, does not necessarily mean the latter is overpriced

similar comment applies to rentals

you'll be telling me next that the baltic dry has relevance because vessels carry bricks!

that said, i am on record as saying that i find it very difficult to be other than bearish about the markets, though at least for the time-being they continue to confound

meanwhile, it is not noticeably any cheaper to ship containers m/e to f/e and back, though at least there are currently no BAF surcharges

"that said, i am on record as saying that i find it very difficult to be other than bearish about the markets, though at least for the time-being they continue to confound"

nice you got there in the end..